CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Coe College men's basketball team fell 79-77 to Cornell on Tuesday night at Kohawk Arena. The loss drops Coe to 1-1 on the regular season while Cornell improves to 1-1. Coe led 74-72 with just over a minute remaining in the ballgame but a three from Cornell's Cooper Kabela and a pair of free throws from Marcus Quirk helped the Rams complete the late comeback. Coe was led by Austin Roth who finished with a career-high 34 points while adding two rebounds. 
 
Cornell raced out to an early 9-0 lead thanks to two early buckets from Kabela and a 3 from Devin Davis which forced a timeout from head coach Bryan Martin. Coe stayed poised despite the slow start, ripping off a 12-2 run over the next 7:11 seconds to take its first lead of the game at 12-11. The game of runs continued as Cornell answered with an 11-2 run over the next 2:44. Josh Schmitt put an end to the Ram run with a deep 3 but a bucket from Davis put Cornell back up seven. Coe then scored seven consecutive points from the 5:41 mark to the 4:57 mark, tying the game at 24. 
 
The squads would trade buckets for the next few minutes but the Kohawks would go on a quarter-ending 7-3 run in the final 2:42 of the half to take a one-point lead into the break. In the first half, Coe was 14-of-30 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the line while Cornell was 14-of-33 from the floor.
 
Coe's run carried over into the beginning of the second half as Coach Martin's team scored 11 of the first 15 points in the frame to take a 46-38 lead with 18:03 left in the game. The Rams answered right back, cutting into the Kohawk lead with back-to-back 3s from Jordan Magnani and Trevor Boge with just over 16 minutes left on the clock. Over the next five minutes, Coe would outscore Cornell 11-7, which included four points from Roth. Leading 57-51 with 11:09 to play, the Kohawks saw the Rams rip off a 16-10 run which tied the game at 67 with 4:36 remaining.
 
Another deep 3 from Schmitt put the Kohawks ahead but Cornell stayed tough over the final few minutes, trading baskets with Coe as the score was tied at 74 with just over a minute to play. Following an empty Coe possession, Kabela hit a left-wing 3 to put Cornell ahead for its first lead of the second half. Roth responded on the following possession with a right-corner 3 to tie the game but a pair of free-throws for the Rams sealed the game with five seconds to play. Coe had a last-second chance to tie or win the game but the shot from Schmitt just missed. 
 
Up Next: The Kohawks will return to the court on Saturday when they host Beloit College at 3 p.m. in Kohawk Arena. 
 
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